I think most people, in their lifetimes, have wanted to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Some people find this through religion or some sort of community service and, lately, through becoming involved in an online community. But what can you, as a trucker, become involved in?

A movement has started that is gaining momentum. You could say it’s being pushed by government activity, but there’s a grassroots movement of truckers supporting it, along with groups like our Fit for the Road program and the Healthy Trucking Association of America.

It’s the Healthy Trucker Movement.

Now before you roll your eyes and write it off, hear me out. Yeah, I know the government has gotten tougher and tougher on your health regs. And I agree that it’s a little unfair that us four-wheelers don’t have to face anywhere near the same requirements in order to be out on the road, much less maintain a steady job. But, believe it or not, there are people in the trucking community who actually care about you.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of these folks through various truck shows this year. It’s been an absolute privilege. I think there have always been the “health nut” types in trucking, but these folks I’m talking about are normal, everyday drivers who just want to see other drivers beat the system by proving that truckers can be healthy.

The HTAA and the 61+ Driver Health Advisory Committee/Trucking Solutions Group have played a role this year by sponsoring health walks at various truck shows across the country. Our Fit for the Road program sponsored its first-ever 5k at the Great American Trucking Show last month.

We want to help, and we want to hear from you about how we can help. If you have thoughts or suggestions on ways this movement can gather steam or if you want to become more involved, please contact me. I’d love to hear from you.

Misty Bell is managing editor for Truckers News. You can find her health blog at www.fit4theroad.com. Contact her at mbell@rrpub.com or http://www.twitter.com/fitfortheroad.

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Something sort of amazing has happened in the past month.

Truckers News‘ Fit for the Road program decided to put together a 5K event for the Great American Trucking Show. We figured the turnout might be kind of small, but that it could be the start of something great for the trucking industry.

Little did we know.

Soon enough, John Christner Trucking had signed on to sponsor the Too Hot to Trot 5K. And after a little more advertising the number of preregistered participants went through the roof! We now have more than 50 people signed up, quite a few of whom are truckers.

I want to encourage you, even if you aren’t a runner, to consider signing up for this event, which will be held Friday, Aug. 27, at 7 a.m. If you preregister by this Friday, you get a free T-shirt for coming out and doing the 5K (Editor’s note: Preregistration is closed as of Aug. 23. Visit the Fit for the Road booth at GATS to register on-site.). You also will get to brag on yourself for completing a race with cross-country runner Jasmine Jordan and our columnist, “Marathon Trucker” Jeff Clark, who will be our special guests at the event. The 5K is free, but donations will be accepted for the St. Christopher Trucker Health & Development Fund.

Transportation will be provided from the Dallas Convention Center to Katy Trail, where the race will be held, but we do need you to let us know if you need a ride.

If you can’t make it out for the 5K (or don’t want to face the Dallas heat!), you can still get in on the health action with the HTAA Health Awareness Walk. This free event will be held on-site at GATS, meeting at Room D-168 by 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28.

I really hope you can make it to one of these events. Don’t forget to preregister for them online!

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If you read my column last month, you know about my dad’s ongoing battle with lung cancer — and the fact that he won’t quit smoking.

That’s part of why it did my heart good to meet Lily.

Lily, an owner-operator leased to Forward Air, is part of the Trucking Health Solutions Group, which helped put on the health walk at our Great West Truck Show and will again be hosting a walk this month at GATS in Dallas. I met her through my friends Linda and Bob Caffee, owner-operators for FedEx who are also with the THS Group.

The extraordinary thing about Lily is that she quit smoking earlier this year — after 40 years of being a regular smoker. She said it’s been a tough road, but thus far it’s been worth it. She feels much better physically. She’s taken to smoking an electric cigarette to help her stick with it — so far, so good. This is a pretty amazing health victory in itself.

Lily, along with her friend Vivian, who attended the show with her, also offered me what I consider to be some great advice for dealing with my dad. I won’t go into it here, but it was very meaningful to me.

To me, Lily represents the heart of the American trucker: Determination and grit paired with a giving spirit. These traits manifest themselves differently in different people, but they’re almost always there.

If you’re coming to the Great American Trucking Show this month, be sure to look Lily up. Come join the group Saturday morning at the Health Walk, and give her a high five for quitting smoking. You can even stop by the Fit for the Road booth to chat with me about your own health successes and concerns. Hope to see you there!

For more information about the Health Walk and the Too Hot to Trot 5K Fun Run, both co-sponsored by Truckers News’ Fit for the Road program, visit www.truckersnews.com

Misty Bell is managing editor for Truckers News. You can find her health blog at www.fit4theroad.com. Contact her at mbell@rrpub.com or http://www.twitter.com/fitfortheroad..

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June 3 was one of those days it seemed the world had stopped spinning. It was the day I found out my father had lung cancer.

The week prior had been a flurry of tests, IV fluids, pills and doctors. The months leading up to that were a downward spiral — drinking too much, smoking too much, eating next to nothing. Every time one of our family members would bring up a visit to the doctor, he had a ready excuse, anything from downplaying his sickness to complaining about the amount doctor’s offices charge to grumbling over making a 45-minute drive from his rural home to sit in a waiting room for hours. His most common argument: The roofing business he owned couldn’t manage without him.

The last time I saw him before he entered the hospital, I told him I was worried. He’d obviously lost weight. My mother, who had exhausted her down-home cooking knowledge trying to find anything he would actually eat, told me she’d been trying to get him in at the VA.

By the time he finally went to the doctor, he was down to 105 lbs.

After running the gamut of emotions and racking up a number of miles on my car visiting while he was in the hospital two hours away, the sensation of finally finding out what was wrong — “The biopsy came back positive for lung cancer,” my oldest sister told me — was almost too much.

I thought of Christmases in the future, without him. I thought of my sister’s children, all under the age of 11, who wouldn’t understand what had happened to Papa if it ended up being terminal. I raged that he spent so many years paying for the benefit of inhaling the very thing that would likely kill him — that killed his father when I was just 7 years old.

Most of all, I wondered why it had come to this. Why didn’t he go to the doctor sooner?

We have since found out that the cancer has not spread, which is a major positive, especially where lung cancer is concerned. As I’m writing this, he is awaiting surgery to remove the cancerous cells from his lungs. He’s already lit at least one more cigarette since he left the hospital.

I love him because he is my father. But I am incredibly hurt by the idea that he might not care enough about living, about being a grandfather to my sister’s kids and, hopefully, eventually to mine, that he won’t find a way to quit.

As a daughter and someone who is face to face with the mortality of a loved one, I implore you: Please, if you are sick, go to a doctor. Try to take care of yourself. I know the life of a trucker isn’t an easy one, but do what you can to stay healthy on the road. If it’s a matter of your life or the job, make the right choice, and don’t leave your loved ones wondering why.

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The healthy truckers are at it again.

The Trucking Solutions Group Driver Health Council, who put on the health walk in Louisville earlier this year will, along with HTAA and our Fit for the Road program, be hosting a 1.5-mile health awareness walk. All drivers are encouraged to attend, and registration is free. To participate, you must register at www.healthytruck.org.

The walk will be held prior to show hours on Thursday, June 17. Participants should be lined up by 10:15 a.m., and the walk, led by Roadside Medical’s Bob Perry, will start at 10:30. After the walk, be sure to check out the Trucker Health Pavilion, which will feature an array of health exhibitors and an opportunity to have free health screenings performed.

You can also stop by our Fit for the Road booth (#1748) and meet me and Truckers News Editor Randy Grider. We hope to see you there!

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Eating healthier can happen in small steps

I partook in an epic battle yesterday.

As silly as it may sound, it’s true in a sense, even if it was simply a battle of wills (my will to do something good for myself versus my will to eat chocolate). See, in our offices we have one source for little afternoon pick-me-up snacks: the break room vending machine. Its contents are not unlike that of a truckstop convenience area, with Doritos, Cheez-Its, crackers, gum and a nice variety of my diet’s Kryptonite — chocolate.

The urge hit early in the afternoon, which was not a good sign. I’d neglected to bring any sort of snack from home, and the lure of M&Ms was strong. I could practically smell them. I popped a piece of gum in my mouth and attempted to concentrate on other things.

Three hours of work left, and I’m asking myself why I don’t just give it up already. So what if I’m trying to lose a few pounds? Who cares that I’ve committed, along with my husband, to staying away from overly processed junk food? One little bag of M&Ms won’t hurt.

And there’s the problem. I am the grand justifier. I can figure out a way to let myself off the hook for feeling bad about anything food- or health-related. It’s so easy to let myself think I don’t have time or money to eat healthy or that if I let myself have this bad food today, I’ll start eating well tomorrow, but what it really boils down to is that unhealthy foods are the easiest choice. And, you know, ultimately I’m the one paying the price for those decisions.

So how can I change what seems to be my inherent mind-set? Here are some questions I asked myself as I was pondering whether to visit the snack machine:

1. Are you really even hungry? (The answer, at the time, was no.)

2. Why do you really want this bad food? (For me, 95 percent of my bad eating is emotional eating.)

3. Is feeling bad about this later worth the pleasure this food will bring you now? (As someone who is way too into instant gratification, this is a really tough question for me.)

No matter who you are or what profession you work in, you almost always have a choice when it comes to eating healthy, even if it’s simply a matter of choosing something slightly less fattening or calorie-laden. But the small steps can make a big difference.

As I found, even just taking a few moments to consider what you’re about to consume can help. In many instances, being healthy comes down to mind over matter. Prove to yourself that you’re strong enough to make the right choices.

As for Battle M&Ms: I won.

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In the past few months, health-care reform has proved to be one of the most polarizing topics in recent U.S. history. But how much should you care about it, and how will it affect you?

According to my research, some of the effects will be felt almost immediately. According to a column by Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) published online in the Huffington Post, within the first six months after its passage, the bill will prevent children from being excluded from coverage because of preexisting conditions and also provide an opportunity to be covered for adults who’ve been unable to get insurance because of preexisting conditions. It also will reduce prescription costs for the elderly and offer tax credits to small businesses, among other things.

For many Americans, the most important long-term effect will be the requirement to either attain insurance coverage or pay a fine, which should take effect in 2014. The bill is projected to expand coverage to 32 million currently uninsured Americans, primarily through insurance “exchanges” designed to drive down the cost of insurance by making the market more competitive. It will require businesses with more than 50 employees to either provide insurance coverage for their employees or pay an annual per-worker fine to the government. Uninsured and self-employed people would be eligible for assistance in paying insurance premiums if they fall into a low enough income bracket (up to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which is $22,050 for a family of four — so up to about $88,200 annual income for a family of four) and are not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.

The end goal is certainly admirable, and the benefits are there for people with preexisting conditions or who meet certain income criteria. The legislation also likely will prove helpful to those who are self-employed, such as our owner-operator readers. Those who will benefit most from the legislation will likely be those who were unable to attain or afford insurance coverage before.

So where does that leave the rest of us? According to an interactive tool on washingtonpost.com, for a middle-class family of two (which represents my current family situation), no new taxes would be levied, but insurance coverage would be required, with a penalty for failure to comply. For those in a similar situation, tax credits will be available when the consumer pays more than 9.5 percent of the family income on premiums, and assistance with deductibles and co-pays will be provided. There will be an annual cap of $4,750 for premiums and 30 percent of total cost for deductibles and co-pays. (For a list of helpful health-care reform-related sites, visit www.fit4theroad.com.)

The intangibles of the situation are the effects the reform will have on the health-care system in the United States. On one side of the coin, many argue that the reform plan will irreparably damage the system, cause hospitals to become overwhelmed with the previously uninsured and drive the best doctors into private practice. On the other side, the argument is that better coverage for everyone should mean a better system for everyone, with an emphasis on prevention.

While reform is a good idea, it remains to be seen whether this will actually work. Unfortunately, it relies heavily on cooperation from all involved, and while it helps to provide insurance coverage for those who need it most, does it do so at the expense of the rest of us?

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It’s funny and sad.

For all my good intentions of getting in better shape and getting to the gym, actually getting there and doing it seems to fall to the wayside far too easily. I’m probably one of the world’s biggest excuse makers, and I can come up with some doozies.

“Oh, well, I can’t go the gym after work, because the dogs will staaaaaarve if I don’t go feed them right now.”

“It’s raining, and I don’t have an umbrella. No gym for me!”

“I’m in a hurry, so I’ll grab lunch at McDonald’s since it has a drive thru and Subway doesn’t.”

“I just want french fries and ice cream. I’ll eat healthy tomorrow.”

Do any of these sound familiar at all? If you’ve put any amount of thought into changing your eating and exercise habits, you may have faced similar thoughts. It’s important to see these things for what they are, whether you’re working in an office or out on the road: Excuses.

I wish I had an easy answer for how to overcome this, but I’m still working that out myself. The best thing for me is to take it one step at a time. If I can get myself to the gym or make a healthy food choice, it makes me feel physically better. And if I can remember how I felt, it helps provide motivation to go again.

This weekend I plan to take the first step by doing some gardening at home (because that’s good exercise, too!), and maybe I’ll even make it to the gym. What will your first step be?

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I ’ve always heard that nice guys finish last, so when it came to my first 5K race, I must have been batting .1000 in the nice category.

I signed up for the 5K in early February, knowing there was no way I would be able to run the whole 3.2 miles because I’m just not in good enough shape. But the entry fee went to raise money for a worthy cause, and a friend of mine was one of the event organizers.

I was awake bright and early on race day, and bundled up in sweat pants and fleece. I lined up with all the other participants at the starting line, slightly intimidated by them — the muscles, the fit physiques, the talk of finishing in 20 minutes. And all the spandex.

The first few hundred feet of the race were downhill, and I found myself thinking it wouldn’t be so bad. Then we got to level ground, and my need for air forced me to slow my pace. A man pushing a baby carriage passed me. I was more than a little insulted.

I quickly realized that everyone had passed me except for one other woman, who seemed to be in similar physical condition to me, and a man who appeared to be in his 70s, who would eventually pass me while encouraging me that my stride looked nice. My one goal for the race was to not finish last, and it looked like even that measly accomplishment would not be realized. I turned to the other woman, who was about 50 feet behind me, and asked if she wanted to be race buddies.

“I don’t want to finish last,” I told her. “And I figure you don’t either. If we cross the finish line together, then we can say neither of us finished last.”

Her name was Beth, and she agreed that the miles would go more quickly with someone to chat with along the way. We did our best, mostly walking and jogging some. We hit the halfway point to the cheers of the race volunteers and some refreshing water. We finished the race in about 49 minutes, several minutes behind the next closest runners.

But we finished.

It wasn’t easy to get out and complete a 5K. It was early. I knew I could be embarrassed because I wasn’t in great shape. When everyone passed me, it was tempting to just turn around, get back in the car and head to breakfast with my husband. But now I can say I’ve completed a 5K. I didn’t finish last, and thanks to me, Beth didn’t have to finish last, either.

Now I’m actually looking forward to my next 5K, which will be near the end of this month. Hopefully, my conditioning will be a little better this time, and I now have a goal in addition to not finishing last: I want to finish in less time than the first 5K took.

All this to say, if I can get out there and do it, so can you. Don’t let embarrassment or laziness keep you from doing something that is good for yourself, whether that’s participating in a 5k or walking laps around the truckstop parking lot. And you won’t just be doing it for you. You’ll be helping your family members by increasing your own health, and you may even help inspire fellow drivers who want better health.

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